Note : I personnaly think this story is sad. The first chapter could have happened, it would explain the abandonning and give a little credit to the young mother. The other chapters, though, don't fit anywhere in Gambit's story (nor does my other stories, but this one is waaaaaay out of the line), and we all know this could never happen. I'm just having fun, thinking about it while I'm working… Thanks for the reviews! This is really encouraging. I was a bit afraid you wouldn't like this one. And it was meant to be a short story, with only one chapter… couldn't resist the urge to write more, though.

Becki : Does his father have a wife? Jean-Luc, you mean? Mmmm, well, no, not that I know of… Interesting, indeed.

Mag Carter : I teach history and French, not geography nor ecology. Now you know why… Thanks for the evergreen, oaks and cypress thingny, I'll get that corrected! Thanks!

Special thanks to my mother for giving her name to my no-longer-no-name-Remy's-mother. Louise belongs to me, the others to Marvel. It they were mine, you'd have to pay to read this… Would you?

Enjoy.

She wandered a long time before finally finding Henri's bedroom. She gently knocked but, having no answer, opened the door to check on her patient. He had moved in is sleep and was now laying on his uninjured side. He was a handsome young man and he would heal quick. But she felt the need to see him, to thank him for the saving of her life. She layed a hand on his forehead. He was a little feverish, but his breathing was slow and regular. He would wake up shortly and his wound would hurt, but until then, she might as well get down and find food for her growling stomach.

She turned back a few corners back to the staircase she had seen before, and went down the stairs. She arrived in a big hall decorated with luxuous furnitures, and nearly bumped into Jean-Luc, making him drop his newspaper on the floor.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He just smiled at her, bending to pick up the newspaper.

"Bah, it's nothin', I wasn't lookin' where I was going either! Care for a cup'o coffee?" She nodded and followed him to a big white kitchen, where the scent of coffee went up her nose, making her smile.

"Dere's a picture, in the room y'gave me, with two boys on it… I'm fairly sure de older one his Henri, but de other one?" A sad look went through Jean-Luc's eyes, and he smiled a bit before answering.

"Oh, dat would be my youngest, Remy." Her heart gave a leap at the name, but she calmed herself. There were thousands of Remy's in the world.

"Does he still live here?" He stared at his hands, flat on the wooden table and gave a small sigh. He spoke softly.

"No." He lifted his head to look at her. "He left ten years ago. I have news, he writes sometimes, but… I haven't seen him since he was eighteen. He's somewhere in New York now, working with other mutants to save the world or something." There was a bit of anger in his voice. "I can't help thinking a mother could'a helped him control dis damn temper of his, instead of sending him to a band of mutants I wouldn't even trust m'self…" He gave a small sigh, and looked up at her with a little smile. "Sorry to bother ye with dis…" She waved a hand to him to dismiss the matter. She had a question, but hesitated…

"Hum… What happened to their mother?"

"Their? Oh well, Henri's mother died in childbirth. Remy's mother, I don't know. He says he was abandonned and lived in a orphanage for a while. I found him in de streets, earning his food as a pickpocket. I had pity for de child, and adopted him as my second son. I never had to regret dat decision… one of de best I've made in my life." The smile was back in his eyes, but she didn't notice it. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest and thoughts were going a hundred miles per hour in her head. Could it be…? Jean-Luc opened his mouth to say something else when the phone rang. She heard a feminine voice answering in the room next door, and soon a pretty looking brunette popped her head in the kitchen, a grin on her face.

"Jean-Luc, c'est pour toi*… You're going to like this, I think." Jean-Luc frowned and walked to the other room to take the call. The woman came into the room and sat at the table. She looked at her, and smiled again.

"Remy doesn't call often" she explained. "So you're my husband's savior… My name's Mercy, and you?"

She didn't have the time to reply. Jean-Luc ran into the room, wearing a leather coat, stopping by the counter to pick up a set of keys. Mercy raised her delicate brows in questionning, and Jean-Luc smiled at them. "He was calling from the airport! I'm picking him up!"

"What?" Mercy seeming genuinely surprised. After all, Remy had been away for ten years… Jean-Luc still didn't answer, and yelled from the hall, just before the door closed : "À tantôt**!"

***************

She put a hand on Henri's forehead and gave out a sigh. He was still having a little fever, nothing bad, but he wasn't sleeping well. Mercy was sitting next to the other side of the bed, reading a book, waiting for the man to open an eye. She looked up to watch her. "He woke up this night, but he seemed feverish…"

"He probably was, but it's better right now."

"Are you going to stay here to take care of him? Since Tante Mattie died, nobody here knows how to take care of wounds and illnesses… And given some wounds," she cast a fast glare at her injured husband "sometimes hospital isn't the best of places to go unnoticed."

"I can understand dat… yes, I'll stay, at least for the rest of de day. I want to make sure dis fever goes away, and dat dis doesn't get infected." She took a long intake. Her hands were shaking madly since Jean-Luc had left for the airport.

Mercy nodded, not noticing her nervousness, and her head went up when the sound of the door opening and male voices came from downstairs, and she ran to the door. The other woman followed, a little more slowly. She arrived in the hall were Mercy was being hugged by a dark, tall man. Jean-Luc saw her coming, and tapped on the man's shoulder, smiling. The young man looked up and grinned at her, extanding a hand.

"Dat's the woman who saved you're brother's life, Remy" said Jean-Luc. "Meet…" He suddently looked puzzled, and stared at the woman. Remy just waited, brows raised.

"Huh, well… my… my name is Louise" she stammered. Remy had sunglasses on, but even with those on his face, memories flooded in her mind as she stared at his face.

A tall, young man in his early twenties. Named François Boulanger. Not a Cajun, but a Quebecer in New Orleans for business twice a month, with a nice burring accent and vowels sounding like music to her ears. She had met him when she was only sixteen. Much too young to find the man of her dreams, especially when that man is already married to a young woman. He was tall and handsome, with dark auburn hair and a long homely face. With a great sense of humour and terrible charming ways with women. Deep blue eyes with tints of violet and gold, that searched her soul each time they plunged into hers. And a runaway heart, that always went back to his first love, leaving her weeping in her bed in New Orleans. The last time she had seen him, he gently touched her face, told her he loved her, but that he had to go back and would never come again. He had said goodbye to her with his body, and had left to never come back, leaving her now pregnant and alone. She had never told him she was bearing his child. He had other things to think. Other babies to take care of.

She was now looking at a carbone copy of François. Remy was older than the man she remembered, in his late twenties. Same hair, same hands, same face… The same sweet smile on his thin lips, showing white teeth. She had been fearing she was right since the phone call this morning.

She was right.

She fainted, falling forward, only to be caught by Remy from falling on the floor. He gathered the woman in his arms and layed her down on a sofa nearby. He stood up, took off his sunglasses and looked at his father with his incredible red on black eyes, a ironic grin on his face. "Told ya nobody resisted my charm!"

* It's for you.

** See you later!